Bucktown neighborhood

Editor's Review

High-end shopping takes over a new neighborhood.

Chicago's famous Oak Street district on the Gold Coast now has some competition for high-end shopping--from an area that once was better known for its backyard animals. Although Oak Street remains the home of designer boutiques, such as Prada, Kate Spade and Jimmy Choo, many of the latest high-end stores to hit town have settled along Bucktown's Damen Avenue. Women's clothiers Nanette Lepore and Cynthia Rowley are two of the designers to choose this neighborhood 15 minutes west of downtown, where fine-dining restaurants, dimly lit lounges and beautifully rehabbed condominiums dot the nearly mile-long stretch between Webster Street and North Avenue. It's a chichi change from the early 1880s, when the area got its name because of the goats kept in some residents' backyards.